She...couldn't believe what she just saw. Naga had saved her? It all made sense now; she remembered everything, and it was so...scary to learn such things, but in hindsight, it was for the best.
She took a breath to calm herself down and made her way outside of castle Velthomer, ready for the battle ahead. She would see her brother soon, at least what was left of him; would he even recognize her? What would he say after so long? She had been telling herself that she was ready all this time, but the thought of it still made her anxious.
She still had so many questions, but who was she going to ask them to? It was not that simple to ask Naga. She wondered about how long she had spent on the snow. She was only a small girl when she first met Naga, and it seemed like she aged just fine. Was she really out there for that long? Then again, dragons had immense power, especially the Divine Dragon Naga, who was the most powerful dragon of all. Even so, how was that power even possible?
Julia kept wondering almost the entire trek to Belhalla. But why was she thinking about all that now? There were still more important things to be dealing with; the Dark God Loptyr was still out there, in the body of Julius. There was no more running away now; she had to do this. She was the only hope for Jugdral now.
It was a long trek from Velthomer to Belhalla, but fortunately, she did not have to walk all the way there as Seliph had noticed her as soon as she entered the forest. Julia showed him that she had successfully retrieved the Naga tome, to which Seliph looked more than happy.
The other members of the army had just defeated the powerful Twelve Deadlords, which only left Prince Julius to be beaten to end the war. It looked like she would be meeting her brother again soon, huh? It would be the last time they would ever see each other, no matter who the winner of the showdown was.
"Julia! You're back, thank goodness…." Fee immediately said once she caught sight of her. She was accompanied by Tinni; they both looked worried. What could've possibly gone wrong now? The war was almost at its end; Julia was already too stressed to deal with that.l
"F-Fee? What happened? You look terrified..." Julia replied.
"It's...It…I." Somehow, Fee found herself stuttering, to which Tinni decided to fill in for her.
"It's about Arthur. He hasn't shown up since you left. I really dread what might've happened to him. I really hope that Ced didn't….that he didn't…"
"He wouldn't do that!" The falcon knight shouted, interrupting Tinni. "I know that's not Cedsy, but...I don't want Arthur to…"
"He won't! We should head back to Friege and check!" Julia shouted, though the fear in her voice was evident. "I want to fix this! I don't want Ced to be lost forever."
"Julia…" Fee said, unable to find words to help reassure her. "I think it'd be better if you head to Belhalla first...I know you're worried about Arthur, but you have priorities. We can't let this battle go on any longer. You need to end the suffering of many!"
"B-But...I understand, I apologize, I just…"
"I forgive you, but please go and fight Prince Julius, and then we can figure everything out after it's done…"
"Yes...we will," Julia simply said and looked towards the castle of Belhalla, it was hard to see thanks to the trees, but it was visible enough. Some people were already getting ready to head to the battle, including Seliph. She took that as her cue to join them, and she was not scared anymore. The sooner she could see this through, the better.
Now that most of the enemy army was defeated, the way to the castle was peaceful. It was probably the first time they'd felt peace in a very long while; the trees and the grass path, it all looked beautiful. They could never stop to take a look at the scenery during their journey, despite them being in so many places.
Hope filled the army as they went to Belhalla, but they had already arrived at the castle.
Once Julia entered, she noticed that it was much darker than she had initially anticipated; it gave off an eerie feeling. They were unsure of where Julius was. It was hard to see; they had to be extra careful. Julius could attack them at any second.
Suddenly a big fireball fell near Seliph, only a few centimeters away from hitting him. That meant Julius knew their exact position, they hadn't even started and he already had the upper hand.
"Trying to ambush me, are you? Well, it seems I got to you first!" A voice laughed from a distance. Julia knew exactly who that was.
"Aghhhh, you little…" Seliph grumbled, still looking around to find the dark prince.
Suddenly, as though a lightbulb clicked in her mind, Julia took it upon herself to cast some light magic and use it as a torch, a bright light filled the room, it was now fully lit up—revealing Prince Julius' position. He was sitting on the throne right above them.
"Gwahhh, that light...it's…" Julius growled and looked over at his sister. Just then, a bunch of Loptyrian bishops appeared soon after that. "JULIA? AGHHHHH, I SHOULD'VE KILLED YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE!"
"B-Brother!? No...Loptyr, I will take you out of my brother's body! You will die for all the suffering you've brought to this continent!" Julia shouted at the dark god, followed by a powerful blast of magic out of the Naga Tome. Julius yet again squinted his eyes at the light but still didn't back down; he casted a big dark magic blast at Julia. Seliph and the rest of the army, on the other hand, dealt with the Bishops that had appeared so Julia could focus on battling Loptyr.
As though in rage, Julius responded with a spell himself, but this time it was a dark spell. The Loptous tome. Unfortunately, Julia wasn't able to avoid the attack; it was a powerful attack, more than she had ever taken in her life and she was good at taking magic attacks. Even with the tome of Naga, this would be a tough battle.
Once she recovered from the hit, she got up and cast another spell; she was not going to give up that easily. Plus, she had a mission, she had to kill Loptyr. She wasn't supposed to die, and she wouldn't, she would make sure of that.
"You really won't fall so easily will you? Hm! Makes it much more fun for me! Mark my words, you will die!" Julius shouted, as he casted another attack from Loptous, this time it was big enough that the image of a dragon appeared.
Julia didn't reply and ran to avoid the attack; she had started casting a spell with her tome while she ran and once the dragon from Loptous' power had disappeared, it was the perfect opportunity to launch the attack at her brother. Thankfully, it hit him and the Dark Lord fell to the ground, extremely weakened.
"Aghhh, Naga, you…" 'Julius' yelled, trying to get up again, trying to search for where his tome was, it must have gotten lost in the massive impact.
"Silence you! Leave my brother alone!" Julia shouted, then she casted down another blow, this time there was a giant dragon as that dragon attacked Julius.
"Aghhhhh, Naga, you've brought ruin to me...yet again…" Julius—no, Loptyr yelled.
Ss Julius's body fell to the ground, the dragon had left the body of Julius and disappeared into the abyss.
It was done.
The battle was finally done.
Something in her, though, felt sad.
Julia decided to run up toward her brother, hoping there was still enough time to speak with him.
"Brother!" She shouted as she looked into his eyes. Yes, he was indeed still alive.
"Ahh...Is that you, Julia…?" Julius, the real Julius, said, raising his weak hand to caress his sister's cheek one last time.
She nodded, growing misty-eyed upon finally seeing him again. "Yes! It's me, Julia! Oh, how I've missed you, brother! I wish...I wish things didn't end up like this...I have so much I would've loved to tell you..."
"Yeah...me too, but they can't be undone now ...just...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry…" Julius said between coughs.
"I forgive you. It wasn't your fault...just…"
"Don't cry, Julia...I'll still be there with you...even if not here, in spirit I shall…"
"I-I...I'll do my best to restore Grannvale, that much I can promise…."
"G-Good…" Julius then said as he died.
And just like that, something inside her burst. This was a victory, and yet...it felt like it wasn't.
"Are we done here?"
Just then, that same voice from Friege called out from behind her. She turned around in absolute panic as a blast of wind was shot at her. To which due to her vulnerability, she got hit, and was knocked to the ground.
Seliph, who had just witnessed everything, began to distance himself from Ced. "Sir Ced? What do you think you're doing?"
"Ah, of course, the Scion of Light. I must thank you for your guidance and leadership, you got the army this far without any of my help," 'Ced' laughed, before casting a Forseti blow on Seliph. "But now it must end, because I am going to take Jugdral for myself."
"You...what?" Seliph questioned.
"You see, I am not Ced, at least, not right now. I am Forseti, the Divine Wind Dragon. The one who gave some of my blood to Sety." Ced-no, Forseti, revealed himself. "You see, it was all a part of the plan, however, you, Seliph, are not in the right to know. At the very least, you wouldn't understand. But you must be disposed of before you become much more of a nuisance."
"So you're Forseti, huh…? I think I remember being told about the situation before...but I never would've thought-"
"I figured you would know about it, hell, that was the main reason I had kept Silesse safely guarded. It seems it worked perfectly!" Forseti laughed, another wind spell cast from his hand. "Now why don't you die?" Then, he attacked Seliph. He was defenseless, he would certainly die now.
Suddenly, the sound of running footsteps could be heard from the entrance.
"SELIIIIIIPH!" A voice shouted, it was the sound of Fee's voice as she dashed in through the castle halls to reach the Lord; thankfully, she managed to save Seliph from the attack.
"F-Fee? You…" Seliph responded.
"Get out of here quickly! Who knows what he might end up doing to you?" Fee demanded, she was on her guard so Forseti wouldn't dare to attack Seliph again. "Oh gods Julia! What did you do to her, you monster!" Fee shouted at Forseti and signaled Seliph to pick Julia up and leave.
Seliph, realizing the situation at hand, nodded and picked Julia up and escaped, leaving Fee to fend off her 'brother' once more.
Tinni was not too far behind during all of this. She took advantage of the momentum Fee had given her and used her basic Thunder tome to paralyze 'Ced' while she healed the Falcon Knight.
However, Forseti quickly recovered from the hit. "Oh you two, you both should already know you are no match for me. All you both have been in this whole plan was a thorn in my side, had I not been just the slightest bit sympathetic you would've died from the start. At least you were useful sometimes and actually helped me in so many ways."
"H-HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH THINGS?" Fee shouted, now angered even more. She made an attempt to attack once more, but Forseti easily avoided it. "HOW CAN YOU USE MY BROTHER LIKE THIS?"
Forseti replied with a laugh. "It is only simple. Without him I wouldn't have been able to be here to begin with. I needed to be in Grannvale, it was the only way to take down Seliph! It would've been quite fitting to do it here in Belhalla too!" In the midst of her anger, Forseti used the advantage to knock her down, and he was successful, as always.
"Aaaah!" She screamed as Tinni attempted to catch her, luckily Fee wasn't extremely weakened. However both of them could hear more running footsteps as they prepared for what was to come.
"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTERS!" Another voice came into the mix as a huge Thoron strike was cast, successfully hitting 'Ced', but not enough to fully damage him. And with that small diversion, Arthur managed to make it to where Tinni and Fee were.
"Arthur!" Both of them shouted in unison, to which Tinni then said. "I thought you died...and...and...oh no, you're injured!" Without saying another word Tinni quickly mended Arthur with her staff.
"I'm fine, at least I am now, just...we need to keep holding him off. Then, when the time is right, give me the Sety Scroll, and I will do what needs to be done."
"H-How are you going to-"
"I cannot explain now, but let's just say I might've figured it out," Arthur said, reading his Thoron spells now.
"Why do you try to save poor Ced? Perhaps you actually cared about him more than I thought. I thought that little 'argument' between him and Arthur would break the Forseti bloodline. Seems like there was a fault in my plan."
"Wait, so you set the whole thing UP!? You WANTED me to fight him?"
"For once you were spot on, you see, if you were not to fight him, poor Ced wouldn't use the Forseti tome. I needed him to use it and with little choice he had, I just had to, let's say, give him a little push."
"So you simply used my existence to your advantage?"
"In truth, I considered using you instead," Forseti said, but paused immediately. "Ah, why do I bother? You wouldn't understand anyways."
"You WHAT?" THAT statement set Arthur off. He felt that same wrathful feeling when he launched another Thoron spell.
Forseti dodged the attack with ease once again. "Oh, desperate to die are we? Well, I would be happy to oblige."
That was the group's cue; they all tried to dodge the holy wind that was the Forseti tome. Fee, even when dismounted, could use the power of her Wind Sword and it's extra advantage with its speed to strike four times! Though not doing anything fatal, it still was something.
Tinni used her Elthunder tome this time to strike twice, with the advantage of her speed too. Despite Forseti having a lot of speed, the other three were just as fast, especially Arthur in particular who had the most advantage out of all of them; he was the most powerful out of the three. It seemed like Arthur's practice with magic really did work out in the end!
"Hah...you really think you can defeat me? Not with this book at my side you cannot!" Forseti taunted.
"Holy Weapons don't matter! That tome might be a force to be reckoned with, but you won't be getting rid of me a second time!" Arthur replied and attacked Forseti again, landing a clean shot thanks to his Thrud blood.
"Huh? Oh you little…" Yet another powerful wind gust, this time only focusing on Arthur. To which, unfortunately for Forseti, Arthur reatilated, focusing on the perfect chances to counter.
Arthur was right, he wouldn't be beaten down a second time by some Holy Weapon. He finally knew how to win a fight like this, and it did not involve killing someone in cold blood for once. That stupid godforsaken dragon god! Messing up any sense of potential friendship with Ced, at least at first. He would pay for ruining everything. And with that in mind, Arthur landed a critical strike!
Forseti noticed his power was weakening, what was left of Ced was trying to come out. "Ghhh, that Ced is starting to actually fight back. I should've known, his ancestor did it too. They must think it to be easy to try and break out of my control damnit," He growled. Despite everything, Forseti still continued to fight, eyes glowing brighter now. "I REFUSE to let that happen!"
Suddenly, Fee ambushed Forseti from behind, slashing her Wind Sword at him. "You may be a god, but you should never underestimate Cedsy! He's stronger than you think!"
Taken aback by the ambush, Forseti hunched down in pain. "Aaaaaagh! You really think you can just say that? I control ALL Major Sety descendants, you hear me? ALL OF THEM!" He shouted. Strong winds began to form around the room, to which it almost felt like they were outside in a storm.
The castle suffered many damages thanks to the strong winds, however, Forseti showed no sign of stopping. Tinni decided to take advantage of the situation and use her Elthunder tome in hopes to catch the dragon off guard, just like her brother had done before; each lightning strike had almost created what looked like a thunderstorm. It indeed messed up Forseti's original offense plan, however, that was not going to do anything to him.
Seeing her as once again a nuisance to his plan, Forseti knocked Tinni down with one of the powerful wind blows, which made the lightning wear off; he still had the upper hand, despite his multiple shortcomings in what he thought was a perfect plan.
Arthur, seeing his sister get knocked down so easily, decided to finally do something about it. Rather than attacking, he looked over to Fee and said, "That's it. Fee, give me the Sety Scroll! Now!"
As quickly as the wind was going, Fee took out the Sety Scroll and gave it to Arthur. The moment Arthur laid hands on the scroll, it began to glow a bright green, almost like the Forseti tome itself did.
Once Forseti saw the glowing scroll, he was immediately angry. "What!? How did you get that? I thought I locked it away!"
"How should I know? You should ask Ced. Oh wait, it doesn't matter!" Arthur quipped, the scroll glowing even brighter. Then, as though something in it reacted, Arthur heard Ced's voice now, albeit in a painful cry.
"AAAAGH... I just…Why was I so reckless? Why did I do this? I've hurt my family…I did all of this. All because of that damned tome Father gave me. Why couldn't I be stronger?" There was a pause, it seemed that Ced was still struggling and his hands covered his head, hunching down in pain. "DAMN YOU FORSETI!"
Arthur, seeing his brother in absolute agony, yelled at Forseti. "Set my brother free. NOW!"
Forseti, who finally regained control of Ced's body, only grinned. "No, I do not think I will!"
"That's what I'd thought you would say. I suppose I've got no other choice now." With a sense of urgency, he aimed the glowing scroll at Forseti, and chanted, 'Crusader Sety, by my will; undo the spell that Forseti had done.'
With that, the scroll went from the soft light to a blinding ray of green, which was shot at Forseti, causing him to scream in agony.
Arthur used the absolute maximum of his power and shouted with all of his might, "You will never, EVER, HURT MY FAMILY AGAIN!"
Then the green light filled the entire room, blinding everyone who was inside. "LEWYN…YOU'RE NOT OUT OF MY GRASP YET!" Was the last they heard of Forseti before his soul disappeared, at least for now. The light died down once the scroll dropped to the ground. Ced's body was passed out on the ground, he was indeed still alive.
"CEDSYYYYYYY!" Fee shouted, tears in her eyes as she ran toward her brother.
"…Ced…" Tinni solemnly said, she had no words for what had just happened then.
Arthur fell to his knees, weakened from the power he had cast. He never thought he would actually deal with a dragon such as Forseti. "So…Father…he was being used all this time…" he muttered tiredly, almost like he was thinking out loud. "I can't believe this…so it was that damned dragon…I knew Forseti was not to be trusted!" Sighing, he got up and ran toward where his sisters were.
"Cedsy! Wake up, please…I don't want to see you like this!" Fee cried. "I'm sorry for always scolding you, it wasn't your fault! I just want you back, not just for me, but for our siblings, and…Julia as well."
Arthur placed a hand on Ced's chest, feeling his pulse. "He's still with us…but…perhaps the possession messed him up…"
"He will be okay, at least he is not dead…so there's hope…" Tinni followed up on her brother's reply.
There was a long moment of just silence. All of them wished to just see Ced alive again...Arthur in particular wanted to make up with him, after everything they had been through.
Suddenly the silence was broken by Ced stirring,, tto which they all gasped. "Mmh…" Ced groaned, then he slowly sat up and looked around.. HHe looked confused,, uunsure of what to say at first. "Is it…is it done…?" He said.
Joy filled the room when Ced finally woke up. Of course, Fee was the first one to react. "Cedsy!" She exclaimed and launched herself to hug her brother. Which eventually was followed with the two Friege mages hugging Ced too. Arthur in particular was so happy to see Ced as himself again.
"Welcome back, Ced…" Arthur smiled. Now he was getting all emotional too. "I am…so happy to see you here again."
"I-I…" Ced, meanwhile, was at a loss for words. He remembered the entire events that had happened, it was hard to process what Forseti had done to him and how much he had been oblivious of all of it the entire time. Because of that, he broke into tears, for the first time in a long, long time. "I am…I am so sorry…"
"Ced…" Tinni said, trying hopefully to calm him down. Meanwhile, the other two were still clinging onto him until Ced would calm down. "We forgive you." Tinni finished her sentence.
"I…" It was all too much to take in…his siblings didn't hate him, they hated Forseti. All this time he thought they hated him, it was his fault that he used the stupid Forseti tome in the first place. But…it was Forseti's influence, and his father's too, but what was he thinking? Forseti used his father, so really, his life was much more of a lie. But that wasn't his life anymore, he had his siblings, and he had…Julia. This life, that he was going to live now, was real, not fabricated. He would have trouble saying all of this to them, of course. But with what he could say, he said,
"Thank…you…"